Impact of family involvement on social cognition training in clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia — A randomized pilot study

Recovery of social functioning is a largely unattained goal in schizophrenia rehabilitation. In the recent past, new neurocognitive and social cognitive training approaches have been introduced to improve functioning in various domains of patients' social life. These programs have neglected, to some degree, the social environment in which the training takes place. Accordingly, the present study sought to examine if family-assisted social cognitive training could improve quality of life, social functioning and social cognition in schizophrenia patients as compared to a social stimulation approach. In a randomized, controlled, parallel group trial design with two groups, one receiving family-assisted social cognitive training once a week (F-SCIT) and the other, social stimulation once every three weeks (SS), both for 14-weeks period, patients were assessed at baseline, before randomization and 16 weeks after randomization. Participants were recruited from Celal Bayar University Psychosis Unit and were in a clinically stable condition. Patients who received F-SCIT significantly improved in quality of life, social functioning and social cognition, whereas the SS group worsened in nearly all outcome variables. Family-assisted SCIT is effective in improving quality of life, social functioning and social cognition.